Throughout the month of October, the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in conjunction with the Department of Justice and Hydebank Wood College delivered ‘Blackout,’ a progressive project aimed at reducing crime and antisocial behavior. The touring production, now in its fourth year, brought performances and workshops to schools and youth groups across Northern Ireland, including St. Michael’s College, Enniskillen, to encourage young people to ask for help.

‘Blackout’ cast member Ruairí Lenaghan, a native of Fermanagh and former pupil of St. Michael’s College, talked about his experience. He said: “It was really enjoyable. Over four weeks I think we did 41 shows to over 4,000 school kids, so it was a whirlwind tour, but it was lovely to come back to Fermanagh and do the play in Enniskillen at St. Michael’s. It was great to chat with a few of the teachers there, and to perform in the old assembly hall was really a lovely experience because that was where I started doing drama.”

The play ‘Blackout,’ tells the story of a young man from a dysfunctional family whose personal circumstances and reactions to adversity lead him into drugs and alcohol. This path results in charges, court and a possible custodial sentence. The high-energy production was followed by a question and answer session with a panel of three young people from Hydebank Wood College who have first-hand experience of custody and the judicial system.

“They got to ask these guys, who had actually been there, been sent to prison for various crimes, what that’s like and hear that first hand. I think you can tell young people not to do bad things or to be careful and it can fall on deaf ears if it’s coming from a teacher or youth worker, but to actually hear it first hand from the guys who have been there, that was really powerful for them,” commented Ruairí.

The purpose of the initiative was to portray the implications of making the wrong decision, and to encourage young people to talk and speak up before it is too late. The project is accompanied by a social media strategy and an Instagram account encouraging young people to discuss their issues and directs them to organisations which can help. ‘Blackout’ was written by Davey Anderson and directed by Philip Crawford, Head of Creative Learning at the Lyric Theatre. The cast included Kyle Hixon, Ruairí Lenaghan, Niamh McAllister, Charis McRoberts and David Paulin along with students from Hydebank Wood College, Belfast.

Commenting on how he believes ‘Blackout’ will benefit the young people who viewed the production and took part in the workshops, Ruairí said: “I think the key thing that we wanted the young audience to come away with was that talking about your problems and issues is a way of alleviating that stress that it can put on you.”

He added: “It’s good to be part of a production where you can witness firsthand the positive impact it makes. If you reach one kid out of the 4,000 plus that we brought the show to this year, then I think it’s paid off and that’s really great.”